SoCon weighs options after losing App. State and Georgia Southern

Commissioner John Iamarino says league has quality options, but it could be nearly "impossible" to replace those two schools.

By TODD SHANESYtodd.shanesy@shj.com

Southern Conference Commissioner John Iamarino dressed in black on Wednesday, but not because he is in mourning.“That was just purely by chance,” he said.The sad truth for the conference, however, is that longtime members Appalachian State (42 years) and Georgia Southern (22 years) announced they are leaving to join the Sun Belt Conference in the NCAA’s Football Bowl Subdivision.“It stings. There’s no question about that,” Iamarino said. “Both Appalachian State and Georgia Southern have been very solid contributors to the athletic success of this conference, particularly in the sport of football. …It’s simply a matter of us not being able to provide them with what they want out of their football programs. So I think the parting will be as amicable as humanly possible.”Appalachian State has 11 conference championships and won three straight national titles (2005-07). Georgia Southern has 10 conference championships and won back-to-back national titles in 1999 and 2000. No other team besides Wofford has won or shared in a league title since 2004 — the Terriers have four overall — and only Furman (1999, 2001, 2004) has joined that group since Marshall left in 1996.“Clearly, we’re losing two outstanding football programs,” Iamarino said. “It will be very, very hard if not impossible to replace those two programs with like quality at the FCS level.”That difficult task has been under way, Iamarino said. The Southern Conference also must replace the College of Charleston, which is going to the Colonial Athletic Association at the end of this school year. Iamarino said the SoCon hopes to have new teams identified by June. That would give incoming institutions time to prepare to join in 2014-15.“I feel very good about all the options available to the SoCon,” Iamarino said. “We have quietly been contacted by enough schools to fill a brand-new conference. We will have quality options, I think, available to us. I feel very good about the future of the conference.”That will mean, however, taking teams from other leagues.“Without a doubt, it’s the most distasteful thing that we have to do,” he said. “…There’s nothing worse than having to talk quietly to other institutions.”Appalachian State and Georgia Southern, in order to prepare for being bowl eligible in the future, must raise their scholarship levels to an average of 76.5 in the next two years. That will put them well beyond the FCS limit of 63, so they will not be eligible for the Southern Conference championship or the playoffs. According to the league’s bylaws, ASU and GSU will be allowed to compete in the championships of other sports, but Iamarino said that issue may be revisited.Iamarino said there is not set criteria for incoming schools regarding which sports they provide as most attractive, but at least two will likely have scholarship football and the hope is that all schools will be strong across the board. Geography also is a key issue.“Our folks have made it quite clear that they would like to keep the geographic footprint manageable,” Iamarino said. “We’re willing to stretch it a little bit. But we don’t want to get ridiculous about this. We don’t want to have to put teams on airplanes to play regular season contests.”Iamarino said he feels confident that the remaining members are content to stay in the Southern Conference, but knows anything is possible.“Members are with you right up until the day they tell you they are leaving,” he said. “Do I think that some of the remaining nine have studied their options and perhaps talked to other conferences? I’m sure they have. In this climate, you’d probably be negligent as a president or chancellor or athletic director not to at least think about the options that may be open to you.”Davidson, for example, was offered a spot in the Colonial Athletic Conference.“It was no secret that the Colonial also reached out to Davidson when they reached out to the College of Charleston,” Iamarino said. “The Davidson folks stayed in touch with us and told us they were doing their due diligence and researching. When it came apparent to them that it did not make sense, they were going to miss considerably more class time for their athletes, they were going to spend a whole lot more money to do this, they let us know that, ‘Hey, it’s not going to happen. We want a strong Southern Conference.’“And that’s what we’re trying to deliver.”